Winds of change : exploring students' definitions of spirituality and their experiences of spiritual development at a public institution

Graduation date: 2014This thesis is a report of a phenomenological-informed study of public university student spiritual development. The research was based primarily upon semi-structured personal interviews and a focus group with undergraduate students at a large, public research institution on the west coast. Since the introduction of scientific objectivity into the academy in the 1850s, public higher education has struggled to address student spiritual development in a way that balances personal expression with institutional establishment (Clark, 20 01; Hartley, 2004; Jacobsen & Jacobsen, 2012; Lowery, 2004). Recently, higher education professionals have begun to recognize that students are going through a young adult process of defining their meaning and purpose, wrestling with questions about their inner-selves, and about how to make sense of the world around them (Astin, 2004; Baxter Magolda, 2000; Palmer, Zajonc, & Scribner, 2010; Parks, 2000). Researchers in this study recorded individual interviews to explore how public university students define spirituality and the relationship between the students' spiritual development and their public institution. A focus group of several participants explored how students discuss spiritual development within a mentoring community. The theoretical foundations of Parks' (2000) young adult faith development and the spirituality measures of Astin, Astin, & Lindholm (2011) inform the interpretation of the emerging phenomenological themes